Best Buy Says Creator Of iPhone/Evo Video Can Keep His Job; Guy Says He'd Rather Not

from the backtracking dept

Thu, Jul 8th 2010 12:20pm — Mike Masnick

Last week you probably saw the story of how the guy, Brian Maupin, who created this hilarious iPhone vs. HTC Evo video was suspended by Best Buy and told he was going to get fired:

Given the massive backlash against Best Buy for this move, it appears the company is backtracking quickly. Best Buy's CEO did a blog post saying the company had "completed its investigation" and Brian was being offered his job back. The CEO also points out -- as people did in the comments, that some of the original concern wasn't so much about the famed iPhone/Evo video (which doesn't mention Best Buy), but other videos he had done that had mentioned the company (which have since been taken down).

Reader Jupiter points out that Maupin is now saying he's not sure he really wants to go back to working at Best Buy, and noting that the CEO's backtracking is very different than what he was told by the company last week:

"(The company statement) is a 180 from what they were saying Thursday, but I guess me they either made peace with the videos I left up or decided the others weren't so bad. Here's a statement I'm issuing as well:

"Right now I'm planning on taking a leave of absence so I may survey my current career plans and the future. I'm not sure if it would be comfortable returning to Best Buy considering the circumstances, but I will definitely consider all options."

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: evo, fired, iphone, video, viral video
Companies: best buy

30 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Anonymous Coward, 8 Jul 2010 @ 12:42pm

sort of the typical "more to it" story. once the truth is all out there, you realize that the guy was sort of pooping where he eats, if you know what i mean. i am sure he can apply his job skills to his next post at radio shack.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 8 Jul 2010 @ 12:44pm
  
  Re:
  You really are dense.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- interval (profile), 8 Jul 2010 @ 1:06pm
  
  Re:
  Poopimg where he eats? Being a floor sales clown at Best Buy means he doesn't eat all that well anyway. I think the point here he's he's more than likely better than Best Buy, and with this episode he's probably starting to realize it.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - DFX (profile), 8 Jul 2010 @ 1:18pm
    
    Re: Re:
    best buy is probably the worst place to work at in the entire country.
    
    People (although paid worse), typically get treated better working at a fast food joint and/or an actual sales joint.
    
    best buy is very extortionary of it's employees in so many ways. It's not that different from walmart.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - DrGonzo42069, 8 Jul 2010 @ 2:57pm
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      Tell Me about it. Once while between IT Gigs I took a spot at a Best Buy in Oregon. I was originally offered 10+/hr to sell PCs over priced PCs to grannies that where way more than they ever needed for their intended use the entire time lying to them about the technology in general. After my first pay check i received a letter from the mother-ship stating that they needed to adjust my pay rate as i was offered too much $ and the hiring manager didn't have the authority to pay me more than minimum wage. Luckily the job was just for kicks and to kill time. I feel sorry for anyone who HAS TO work there. Its worse than anyone can post without possibly getting smacked by some NDA you signed when you weren't looking.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
noesbueno (profile), 8 Jul 2010 @ 12:59pm

yeah, i think he's headed to burger prep next.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Spug, 8 Jul 2010 @ 1:04pm

hilarious iPhone vs. HTC Evo video
Hilarious - no.

iPhone vs. HTC Evo video - yes.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 8 Jul 2010 @ 1:12pm

+1 more for someone that will never shop at BB due to this incident.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Blatant Coward (profile), 8 Jul 2010 @ 2:42pm
  
  Re:
  Because he's fired, or because he was offered his job back? Perhaps option 3, you are an iPhone4 wanter. Go to Walgreens and shush, adults are talking.
  
  From the CEO's blog:
  
  "The videos in question did not illustrate 'humility, respect and integrity' and that’s unacceptable to me, our customers and our employees."
  
  As a Best Buy customer, I want a sales person with knowledge of their assigned zone, and a willingness to at least offer to assist me. If they have opinions, that's fine, frankly I don't care what they are, I'll make up my own mind.
  
  Humility is false modesty-a form of lying-as far as I'm concerned, look me in the eye, say your piece clearly and we'll get along fine. Respect and integrity would be counter to humility in the event you have an opinion as in this case.
  
  Being a kowtowing sack of manure is fit only for management, and no co-workers would want to be around cleaning up after that.
  
  Perhaps the CEO should look over the video again and ask himself, would he like a wakeup call or to be cursed to visit walgreens forever? Oh and one more thing if he does happen to see this post...
  
  IT'S A FREAKING CARTOON! GET OVER IT!
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Brian, 8 Jul 2010 @ 1:32pm

uhhhh
"Right now I'm planning on taking a leave of absence so I may survey my current career plans and the future"

Career plans? You work at Best Buy! You obviously have NO plans other than living in your parents' basement...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Simple Mind (profile), 8 Jul 2010 @ 2:26pm
  
  Re: uhhhh
  Read between the lines. He obviously thinks this episode may be his springboard to fame and fortune. "I'll take time to survey my other options." My bet is he will be back at BB before long. His video is fun, but doesn't show any great creativity or marketable skills.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Blatant Coward (profile), 8 Jul 2010 @ 2:49pm
    
    Re: Re: uhhhh
    "I'll take time to survey my other options to find a job where people won't be trying to make a few dozen brownie points with the powers that be by frakking me up the butt sideways as they fire me for "poor work habits" or some other tripe that is "definitely officially not related to the videos this guy made.""
    
    You left out some of the quote, fixed that for you.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 14 Jul 2010 @ 8:37am
    
    Re: Re: uhhhh
    No marketable skills? Are you fucking kidding? You are here commenting on his video, and you've never met him. You must own an Iphone 4.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Bugsy, 8 Jul 2010 @ 2:03pm

BUT!!!!!!!
He should not be fired for making a silly movie, he should publicly humiliated for misrepresenting the iphone in the "humorous" vid.
1. 3x faster internet? Fiction. Even if your lucky enough to live in one of the scare 4g cities, it's been reported as being a little bit faster than to new iphon4.
2. Yes, the screen is bigger but NO WHERE near as beautiful, not as high a resolution, does not look as good in the daylight.
3. APPs? Are you kidding me? You're comparing a one month old phone with a new app store to the hundreds of thousands of established, working and USEFUL apple apps? Pull-ease...
4. No phones camera takes better shots than the new iphone. Piss on megapixels. ANd the VIDEO CAM blows anything else away AND the videos can be edited IN THE PHONE using imovie.

Maybe you should go to work for Obama. He needs more spin doctors.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Modplan (profile), 8 Jul 2010 @ 2:07pm
  
  Re: BUT!!!!!!!
  Even though there's a video, this isn't the Youtube comments section.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- B-Eck, 8 Jul 2010 @ 2:48pm
  
  Re: BUT!!!!!!!
  1. 4G is reported to be significantly faster than any other networks 3G. You can read countless reviews on it. As far as 3g vs 3g, it completely and utterly depends on your location... just like just about every other phone known to man. Get a clue.
  
  2. NO WHERE near as beautiful? I've seen both phones up close and in person. The Iphone screen does look better, but it's really only noticable on video that is extremely vivid. Most Youtube videos look fairly comparable.
  
  3. The EVO is using the Android app store... the Android app store has been up and running much longer than a month. Does Apple still own the advantage in the app deparment? Yes, but to ignorantly state that it's a new app store is well... ignorant.
  
  4. Find reviews on the camera's. I've seen half say that they're very comparable, and the other half tilted in EVO's favor. Most reviews on the video have tilted in the Iphone's favor. Either way they say if you're looking for high quality pictures, don't throw away your newer digital camera just yet, and neither of the phones are worth using as a legitimate camcorder.
  
  At least political spin doctors are informed...
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Mike Masnick (profile), 8 Jul 2010 @ 2:56pm
  
  Re: BUT!!!!!!!
  He should not be fired for making a silly movie, he should publicly humiliated for misrepresenting the iphone in the "humorous" vid.
  
  You do realize he also made a video posting "the other side" as well, right?
  
  http://www.youtube.com/user/tinywatchproductions#p/a/u/0/UAOtC9QfXac
  
  He's making fun of silly fanboyism -- like the kind that gets you all upset about a joke video. He's not endorsing one phone over the other.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Eugene (profile), 8 Jul 2010 @ 3:42pm
    
    Re: Re: BUT!!!!!!!
    Ohhhhh SNAP
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 8 Jul 2010 @ 6:42pm
    
    Re: Re: BUT!!!!!!!
    but in his position(at the time) he perhaps should consider how it might be taken.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Any Mouse, 9 Jul 2010 @ 12:35am
      
      Re: Re: Re: BUT!!!!!!!
      His position at the time? He was a sales monkey. He didn't even mention his place of work. Why should he consider how it might be taken? If it weren't for other videos that /did/ mention his place of work, then this wouldn't have been an issue.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- mjb5406 (profile), 8 Jul 2010 @ 3:38pm
  
  Re: BUT!!!!!!!
  I was going to call you a gutless Apple fanboy, but my computer is tethered to my iPhone 4 and the signal keeps dro
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Andy, 8 Jul 2010 @ 4:02pm
  
  Re: BUT!!!!!!!
  How about actually being able to use the front-facing camera on the Evo for video chat over the network? iPhone 4 is wi-fi only for "facetime" for who knows how long.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Gripemaster, 8 Jul 2010 @ 6:42pm
  
  Re: BUT!!!!!!!
  It's a funny video for crying out loud. An Apple fanboi much?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Overcast (profile), 8 Jul 2010 @ 2:12pm

Really, from what I've heard about the company as of late - it doesn't surprise me.

Glad I avoided them last week when I bought the new camcorder. Wouldn't want any Videos I shoot with it to annoy them.

And I guarantee the Sony camcorder takes better shots than any phone :O
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 8 Jul 2010 @ 6:43pm
  
  Re:
  You bought a Sony camcorder? I'm going to go barf now.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
RadialSkid, 8 Jul 2010 @ 2:49pm

I hope the best for the guy, no matter what the naysayers and white collar career snobs say about him.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
CJ (profile), 9 Jul 2010 @ 3:51am

Ugh A sony camcorder. Are those the ones that phone home to daddy every time you hook it to the internet?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Matt Polmanteer, 9 Jul 2010 @ 7:12am

T-Shirt
He should start merchandising the crap out of this. I want a T-Shirt that has 2 characters that just says "It F$*&ing Prints Money"
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Big_Mike (profile), 9 Jul 2010 @ 12:39pm
  
  Re: T-Shirt
  HAHA I just want the caption "I don't care!" That line is a running joke here at my work.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Tom Landry (profile), 9 Jul 2010 @ 3:49pm

insulate yourself from the real world inside your fortress of "corporate culture" and find out what a blithering douchebag you come off as when you wake up and remember that not everyone has to kowtow to a set of language and behavior rules you made up to keep the white collar cattle in line.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]